The moment I felt that pulse, my entire body went still.
Not from fear.
From instinct.
Something deep inside the synchronization reacted immediately, the silver light beneath the fractures across my skin glowing softly under the sunlight while a strange vibration spread through my chest.
Faye noticed it instantly.
Her expression changed.
"What is it?"
I didn't answer right away.
Because honestly…
I wasn't sure myself.
The pulse came again.
Slow.
Heavy.
Almost like a heartbeat echoing somewhere beneath reality itself.
The Door behind us remained silent, standing alone in the middle of the ruins like an ancient scar separating worlds. Massive black chains still wrapped around its surface, but now the symbols carved into the metal glowed with silver light instead of darkness.
It looked calmer.
Sleeping.
But the synchronization inside me continued reacting.
The silver fractures across my arms shimmered faintly while distant whispers brushed against my consciousness for the briefest second.
Not the old whispers.
Not the prison.
Something else.
Something… alive.
I slowly turned my head toward the horizon.
The wind moved gently through the abandoned landscape around us while sunlight spilled across broken stone and ruined pillars left behind by forgotten civilizations.
And then—
Another pulse.
Stronger this time.
Faye stepped closer beside me immediately.
"Kael…"
I finally spoke quietly.
"Something's still connected to the Door."
The silence afterward felt heavy.
Because deep down…
We both understood what that meant.
The prison had changed.
The abyss had healed.
But eternity itself was still alive.
The synchronization inside me deepened slightly as I focused harder on the feeling spreading through reality.
Then suddenly—
Images flashed inside my mind.
A black ocean.
Silver light.
Ancient chains stretching endlessly through darkness.
And somewhere very far away…
A figure standing alone at the edge of the abyss.
My breathing stopped instantly.
Not because I recognized the person.
Because I couldn't.
Their entire body was covered in shadow, impossible to see clearly, yet something about their presence felt wrong in a way I couldn't explain.
Old.
Older than the prison itself.
The vision disappeared immediately afterward.
I staggered slightly.
Faye grabbed my arm before I could lose balance.
"What did you see?"
I looked toward the Door silently for several seconds before answering.
"…Someone."
The wind suddenly became colder around us.
The silver glow on the Door flickered softly.
And deep inside my chest…
The synchronization tightened painfully.
Not like corruption.
Like warning.
Faye's voice lowered.
"You think something survived?"
I wanted to say no.
Honestly, I did.
After everything we fought through, after changing eternity itself, I wanted peace. I wanted to believe the nightmare had finally ended.
But the synchronization never lied.
And right now—
It was telling me something impossible.
The abyss was still hiding secrets.
I slowly looked down at my trembling hand, silver light moving quietly beneath the fractures spreading across my skin.
Then I whispered the only truth I could feel.
"…I don't think the prison was the beginning."
Silence crashed between us.
The sunlight suddenly felt colder.
Behind us, the Door pulsed once more.
Slow.
Ancient.
Alive.